FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
MAY 25, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
JANE CHRISTYSON, CLEVELAND METROPARKS
216-635-3200, EXT. 3229
"mailto:mjc@clevelandmetroparks.com">mjc@clevelandmetroparks.com
"http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103434943202&s=0&e=001-iQ9bMun4NdMHqPoSJg_2qzymvONcBthmXCgb3QzLPfh3YHqHnwVZiJCwgXH5lOI8KyxFxmGHWIVDiOWQROuurNkA-jh2nGy-TTpjzKt1BeKyxlGELXUfZU3mLxEtra8">
www.sustainablesites.org/news
The Sustainable Sites Initiative� (SITES�) announced the selection
of Cleveland Metroparks West Creek Reservation as one of the first
landscapes to participate in a new program testing the nation's
first rating system for green landscape design, construction and
maintenance.
West Creek Reservation will join 174 other pilot projects from
34 states, as well as from Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an
international pilot project program to evaluate the new SITES
rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without
buildings. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce
pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant
economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.
SITES, a partnership of the American Society of Landscape
Architects, the LadyBirdJohnsonWildflowerCenter at The University
of Texas at Austin and the United StatesBotanic Garden, selected
West Creek Reservation in Cleveland Metroparks based on its
extensive environmentally-friendly elements. These sustainable
practices include: restoring a former landfill as a park meadow,
managing rainwater on site, utilizing storm water management
features as landscape amenities, use of native plants, utilization
of sustainable building materials, providing social spaces within
building and site design, and the integration of long-term
monitoring and assessment of sustainable practices.
West Creek Reservation joins the Flight 93 National Memorial,
the Smithsonian Institution's African American History &
Culture Museum and other projects that include academic and
corporate campuses, public parks with hundreds of acres,
transportation corridors, and private residences of less than one
acre.
West Creek Reservation was designed by a multi-discipline team
lead by landscape architects and engineers Floyd Browne Group with
Doty & Miller Architects and Domokur Architects. The 278-acre
site was developed as an educational and outdoor recreational area
with the themes of watershed stewardship and sustainable land
management. Like the other pilot projects, the site will test the
point system for achieving different levels of site sustainability
on a 250-point scale, and the performance benchmarks associated
with specific credits within the Guidelines and Performance
Benchmarks 2009. The site's other sustainability features include
invasive plant management, minimization of soil disturbance and
restoration of previously disturbed areas, maintenance of the site
for long-term sustainability, and interpretive
exhibits.
SITES will use feedback from this and the other selected projects
during the pilot phase, which runs through June 2012, to revise the
final rating system and reference guide by early 2013. The U.S.
Green Building Council, a stakeholder in the Sustainable Sites
Initiative, anticipates incorporating the guidelines and
performance benchmarks into future iterations of its LEED� Green
Building Rating System�.
More information is available at: www.sustainablesites.org. For
general media queries about SITES, go to: "http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103434943202&s=0&e=001-iQ9bMun4NdMHqPoSJg_2qzymvONcBthmXCgb3QzLPfh3YHqHnwVZiJCwgXH5lOI8KyxFxmGHWIVDiOWQROuurNkA-jh2nGy-TTpjzKt1BeKyxlGELXUfZU3mLxEtra8">
http://www.sustainablesites.org/news.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is an interdisciplinary
partnership led by the American Society of Landscape Architects,
the LadyBirdJohnsonWildflowerCenter at The University of Texas at
Austin and the United StatesBotanic Garden to transform land
development and management practices with the nation's first
voluntary rating system for sustainable landscapes, with or without
buildings. As these guidelines become the accepted practices
by professionals and nonprofessionals alike, they will transform
the ways we design and build on the land, creating landscapes that
nourish life for generations to come. For more information, visit
www.sustainablesites.org.
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